Purpose: The purpose of this study was to understand and describe the illness experience of married Korean women with epilepsy. Methods:Data were collected during 2015~2016 through individual in-depth interviews with 12 married women with epilepsy. Verbatim transcripts wereanalyzed using Giorgi’s phenomenological analysis to uncover the meaning of the illness experience of the participants. Results: The study resultsshowed that the illness experience of married Korean women with epilepsy was clustered into a specific description of situated structure and ageneral description of situated structure. Six themes from 20 meaning units were identified: 1) Undermined self-esteem with stigma of being epileptic;2) Limited social interaction; 3) Suffering sorrow as a ‘disqualified being’; 4) Shuttling back and forth across the boundary betweenhealthy and epileptic; 5) Desperate struggle to meet the expectation of given role; 6) Self-empowering through self-restriction and realization. Conclusion: The findings from this study show that both the enacted and felt stigma of epilepsy impact on the life of married Korean womenwith epilepsy. Although the participants face social and interpersonal restriction and prejudices, they try their best to fulfill their role rather thanto be cared for as patients. As the stigma and hardships of the participants are related to lack of knowledge, health professionals should focusnot just on clinical intervention but also on providing targeted educational programs and counseling for these women to dispel the stigma of thedisease and to increase their quality of life.